


When You Comin' Back, Range Rider?

by geneeste



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: Discussion of Sexual Relationships, F/M, Gratuitous Use of the A-Team Intro, In Which Rufus is Our Romantic Hero, Post-Season/Series 01 Finale, and Jiya is Endlessly Amused
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-08
Updated: 2017-03-08
Packaged: 2018-10-01 03:27:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10179617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geneeste/pseuds/geneeste
Summary: He’s just so happy to be here, cuddled up in a hospital bed with a mostly-stable Jiya, rather than back in 1954 and that awful warehouse, praying that she would make it and powerless to do anything to help her.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little one, Rufus and Jiya figuring things out. Title is from the A-Team episode of the same name (the one they're watching when the fic starts, incidentally). Thanks to bethanyactually for the beta!

" _...still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire... the A-Team_ ,” Rufus and Jiya say together along with the voiceover, although Jiya starts to laugh at the end, unable to recite it straight.

Rufus grins, adjusting his hold on her to let her lay her head more fully on his chest. “Your deep voice is terrible.”

He can feel Jiya laugh. “I know! I just can’t get that rough, macho tone the narrator has, I don’t know how he did it.”

“Lots of training and cigarettes, I’m guessing,” Rufus replies.

Jiya makes a disgusted noise, and he’s pretty sure she’s scrunching up her nose. “No, thank you. I’ll stick with my smooth, girly voice.”

“So will I,” he says, and if he sounds as sappy as he feels, he doesn’t care. He’s just so happy to be here, cuddled up in a hospital bed with a mostly-stable Jiya, rather than back in 1954 and that awful warehouse, praying that she would make it and powerless to do anything to help her. He squeezes her to reassure himself that she’s still there, then kisses the top of her head.

Jiya sighs happily, and they watch this episode’s bad guys, illegal rustlers trying to herd mustangs with jeeps, run amok before the A-Team gets ahold of them. Rufus idly runs his hand through her dark hair, gently working out tangles, enjoying the way her thick, silky hair wraps around his fingers. He loves her hair; has spent an inordinate amount of time imagining doing just this: being close to her, getting used to the flowery vanilla scent of her shampoo, warming his hands in her hair.

He’s imagined doing other things, too--he’s only human. But just being with her, no pressure for anything else? It’s just as important as the other ways they could be intimate, if not more, because he wants that solid foundation most of all.

As if she knows the direction his thoughts have taken, Jiya pulls back and looks up at him. “So I guess these weird time-seizures are going to delay our romantic plans for a while, yeah?”

Not for the first time, he wonders if she’s telepathic. She always seems to know what he’s thinking. “Are we calling them time-seizures? I was thinking we could call it, like, your ‘fourth dimension connection,’ get a little rhyming in there,” he says, trying to avoid the topic.

She presses her lips together, looking amused, and sits up next to him. “Rufus.”

He sighs. “Okay, yes, the seizures are freaking me out a little. I’m worried about you, Jiya. I just want you healthy.”

She nods. “I get that. But this is a recent thing. Why haven’t we...you know, taken the next step before we decided to mess with all the timey-wimey stuff by riding a wormhole together?”

“Well, that’s because I’m a chickenshit,” he deadpans, hoping she’ll laugh, realize he doesn’t want to talk about it, and move on.

She does snort, but he should know better than to think he can distract Jiya when she’s locked on a target. “We both know that’s not true. You are one of the bravest people I know. Come on,” she says, grabbing his hand and stroking his fingers, “tell me the truth. Is it something I’m doing? Am I giving you the wrong signals?”

That has him sitting up and forward. “No, definitely not. Trust me, you are giving all the right signals. I really like your signals.”

“Then why?” she asks, brown eyes gentle and totally non-judgemental. 

He looks away. “It’s just...I really respect you, Jiya. And I know the kind of shit I’ve had to put up with as a black man in STEM, but I also know that’s not the same as the things you’ve probably had to deal with in our field, and...I don’t know. We work together, and I don’t want to you think that I’m just doing a power thing or that I’m just trying to get with you because you’re _the_ _girl_ in the office and I want to get laid. I wanted to do it right, and then all this _stuff_ with time machines and saving history and Rittenhouse happened, and you’re too important for me to half-ass this--”

Jiya makes a noise in her throat, which draws his gaze back to her. She’s smiling, so he doesn’t think she’s upset, but she’s got a weird expression on her face. “What?” he asks nervously.

She smiles even wider. “You are such a good guy, Rufus.”

He’s not sure why, but his lungs seize up at that. His mind jumps to the feeling of hard metal in his hand, the sound of a loud bang echoing off giant mainframe computers, and the image of a man sprawled dead on the floor. “Jiya, I’m not--”

She leans over and cuts him off with a hard kiss, and when she pulls back her eyes are half-closed and watching him intensely and everything about her is incredibly appealing. 

“You are,” she says, and her tone brooks no argument. “And you’re right, I’ve had to develop a radar for guys who just want to say they nailed the only geek girl they know. But you have never, ever shown up on that radar, I wouldn’t want you if you had. And I really do want you, Rufus.”

His body reacts to her words in a visceral way, and he has to spend a few moments fighting the urge just to grab her right now. They’re in a hospital room, for god’s sake. 

“Jiya,” he says, and _wow_ does he love how her eyes glaze over when he says her name like that.

Then she takes a deep breath, and her whole face goes soft and affectionate. She lifts his hand and presses a kiss to his palm, and he curls his fingers around her chin instinctively. “I understand why you don’t want to have sex right now,” Jiya stops and shakes her head at his slow grin. “I mean, _I_ don’t want to have sex _right now_ , what would the nurses say?” she says, voice high.

He laughs, drops his hand into her lap, and grabs her hand again. “Good way to get you discharged quickly. Or arrested.”

She covers her mouth with her free hand while she snickers. “I _meant_ ,” she continues, giving him a look, “that I get where you’re coming from, and I’m good with it. You’re important to me too. I love you, and I just want you to know that I’m ready whenever you are.”

He has to tear his eyes away from her lips, and when he looks up she’s smirking at him knowingly. He feels his cheeks go warm, which he tries to ignore. 

“Soon, Jiya,” he says huskily, and is gratified when her cheeks flush too. “Just as soon as we’re sure you’re okay.”

She leans forward again, hovering until her lips just brush his. “Good to know,” she says, then captures him in a kiss.

And he _is_ captured; he falls into it, mind quieting and heart racing, and definitely loses awareness of the world outside Jiya’s beautiful mouth for a while.

It’s not his fault. Jiya is a really good kisser.

Eventually she pulls back, before it can get too out of hand and leave them both frustrated, giving him one more quick kiss before grabbing the remote and rewinding while he reboots his brain.

“I honestly have no idea where we were,” he admits, and leans back on the bed, lifting an arm so she can settle into him again.

“Don’t worry,” she says, and he has a feeling she’s talking about more than just the show, “I remember exactly where we left off.”


End file.
